What would it take to “discover peace and find your joy?” Between ‘joy’ and ‘peace’ I cannot think of much else today that people want or need more of.
Some mornings I do the random ‘flip to a section of the Bible’ to read. And I will here admit that I do not have a ‘set’ way to study the Bible…I get stuck on some passages that keep going through my head. So a reading plan? Not for me…at least at this time. Anyway, I, flipped to Isaiah 58 and there were several underlined passages that my eyes jumped to. Go ahead….go get your Bible and follow along.
But before we discuss the underlined passages in my Bible, I’m going to preface it. Isaiah was Jehovah’s prophet of Israel as Israel was repetitively turning away from Jehovah. The Lord had given instructions to Moses for His wayward people which they were told to follow if they were to be the prosperous nation He intended them to be, telling others of His promised redemption. And now Isaiah can be found threatening, begging, promising….if only Israel would follow the precepts of Jehovah!
He starts in Chapter 58 “Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.” Why? “‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?'” (verse 3). So what was the sin, here? Continue in verse 3 “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers…” Keep reading in verse 4 “You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.” Remember talking about the Fasting and Praying…this Biblical chapter is entitled “true fasting” and so understand that this is referencing specific times that people try to be spiritual and yet the results are not as they thought they would be.
Next verses.
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter–when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Isaiah 58:6-7
And what is God’s response to the kind of fasting [sacrifice, worship] that He has deemed as the “fasting I have chosen”? (And before anyone reading this thinks that this was limited to the people of Israel, re-read those verses…when He walked the Earth, the words of Jesus frequently paralleled these ideas).
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help and he will say: Here am I.
Isaiah 58: 8-9 (emphasis applied)
Can I hear an amen?! Wow wow wow. When we worship and fast and sacrifice as God has directed (to rehash, not to “do as you please and exploit all your workers,” not ending “in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists” as it says in verses 3-4) then we all these promises waiting for us!
So… how do you find your joy? None of this directly talks of joy as the title/introduction implies. I’m going to push just a little…go to verse 13. Read the first line.
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath….
In my introduction it states I believe in the sanctity of the Ten Commandments; If you read in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, as well as follow the life of Christ in the New Testament, you will see that the seventh day of the week is considered Sabbath and was to be held sacred each week. This is the Sabbath that is discussed in the next verses.
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
then you will find your joy in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.
The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 58:13-14
So….if we fast in a sacrificial way like God intended it…the promise is that God’s peace is with us…and if we keep His proclaimed Sabbath, not going our own way or doing our own thing or speaking idle words…then we find our joy.
Look at that. Words of ancient Isaiah, applicable today.
